Newsroom

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid to NATO Headquarters on Thursday (8 December 2016). The Secretary General praised Estonia for its commitment to the Alliance, including through contributions on cyber defence and to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan. He noted that Estonia leads by example on defence spending and will host a multinational NATO battalion early next year.

The Secretary General

NATO Review

Anti-corruption efforts
08 Dec. 2016Anti-corruption instruments that have been promoted for years do not work the way we expected them to. They only work under certain societal conditions and are not a blueprint that can be applied anywhere.

Rethinking the way we do anti-corruption
08 Dec. 2016In the past five years, an EU-funded project set out to assess the success of anti-corruption efforts. Generally speaking, the news is not good. Most simple tools promoted by international anti-corruption efforts do not seem to work.

What can we learn today from the ‘three wise men’?
05 Dec. 2016In the turbulent world of 2016, many of the fundamentals of transatlantic cooperation and western liberalism are being questioned. Learn why the recommendations of NATO’s ‘three wise men’ aimed at strengthening unity within the Alliance are still relevant today, 60 years later.

Cyber resilience: protecting NATO’s nervous system
12 Aug. 2016Without the right information, at the right time, in the right place, the ability of NATO commanders to take a decision is compromised. Information technology provides the glue for command and control capability.

On Deterrence
05 Aug. 2016Deterrence is back. After the end of the Cold War, the Alliance focused less on territorial defence and more on out-of-area crisis management, first in the western Balkans and later also in Afghanistan. That changed in 2014 because of concerns about Russia’s aggressive actions towards Ukraine as well as the rise of so-called Islamic State (or Daesh) in Syria and Iraq.

Nuclear deterrence and the Alliance in the 21st century
17 Jun. 2016Deterrence is back: Major and regional powers are modernising their nuclear forces and giving them a central role in their broader strategic posture. NATO needs to re-establish a robust and credible defence and deterrent.

Cyber defence
08 Jun. 2016Cyber attacks can affect most areas of our lives and are increasing in speed, sophistication and diversity. Should NATO do more to contribute to cyber defence?

NATO: changing gear on cyber defence
08 Jun. 2016The public-private character of how the Internet is governed highlights the need to work together – a key issue when reviewing NATO’s role. Cooperation between like-minded states and international organisations remains the best way to address many cyber risks.

NATO IN FOCUS

The principle of collective defence is at the very heart of NATO’s founding treaty. It remains a unique and enduring principle that binds its members together, committing them to protect each other and setting a spirit of solidarity within the Alliance.

NATO constantly reviews and transforms its policies, capabilities and structures to ensure that it can continue to address current and future challenges to the freedom and security of its members. Presently, Allied forces are required to carry out a wide range of missions across several continents; the Alliance needs to ensure that its armed forces remain modern, deployable, and capable of sustained operations.

Many of the challenges NATO faces require cooperation with other stakeholders in the international community. Over the past 25 years, the Alliance has developed a network of regional partnership frameworks with 41 partner countries from the Euro-Atlantic area, the Mediterranean and the Gulf region, as well as individual relationships with other partners across the globe. NATO pursues dialogue and practical cooperation with these nations on a wide range of political and security-related issues. NATO’s partnerships are beneficial to all involved and contribute to improved security for the broader international community.

NATO is an active and leading contributor to peace and security on the international stage. It promotes democratic values and is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. However, if diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military capacity needed to undertake crisis-management operations, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.